Miami’s Reggie Johnson ineligible; Haith involvement not known

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Miami center Reggie Johnson has been declared ineligible by the Hurricanes after an investigation revealed that members of his family took travel benefits that the university said were approved by a member of former coach Frank Haith’s staff.

The Hurricanes have asked the NCAA for a speedy decision on whether Johnson can be reinstated.

“The University of Miami … is seeking his immediate reinstatement,” read a statement distributed by school officials about an hour before the Hurricanes – who are on the NCAA tournament bubble – were to host No. 15 Florida State.

Johnson has been aware of the investigation for several days, but he and his teammates were not told of that he was declared ineligible until Sunday.

Johnson is averaging 10.6 points and 6.9 rebounds this season for Miami, which was rocked last summer when allegations made by former booster and convicted Ponzi scheme architect Nevin Shapiro – mostly involving the football program – were unveiled in an article published by Yahoo Sports. Shapiro’s claims sparked a department-wide investigation into compliance practices, and that inquiry uncovered the matter involving Johnson’s family.

Shapiro is not linked to the current situation.

“In the process of the ongoing joint NCAA-UM inquiry, it was discovered that members of Johnson’s family received impermissible travel benefits from a member of the former basketball coaching staff,” the university’s statement said. “Johnson was unaware of the benefits and his family was told they were permissible by that member of the former basketball coaching staff.”

A message left for Haith, now the coach at Missouri and a national coach of the year candidate, was not immediately returned. Haith is not named in the university’s statement, nor is there any reference to which coach is to have allegedly approved the travel benefits for Johnson’s family.

While Shapiro’s claims made last August were primarily about football, there was a basketball tie in which he said he paid $10,000 to help ensure that DeQuan Jones signed with the Hurricanes. Shapiro also told Yahoo Sports that Jake Morton, who was on Miami’s staff at the time as an assistant coach, was involved with that transaction.